With some great talent leaving/graduating at TE and RB I am not surprised we are looking to replinish some of that talent in the portal but I am wondering with so much talent leaving the safety room as well why there haven't been just as many offers to address that... Perhaps more great young talent expected to step up and immediately play well?

When's the next big signing date?

Feb. 4th

We have been pretty quiet. We have some really big holes to fill and I’m not seeing the offers go out. Edge, TE (hopefully the one we offered commits), nickel, safety, big RB, Big Receiver, Tackle…

Last year they announced transfers starting January 16th so hopefully we get some more clarification in the next couple of days if that trend continues

Yes as supreme stated, we announced all of our transfers at the end of the transfer period instead of one at time as they came in. I would be shocked if we have zero transfers locked in.

Transfer Portal period ends January 16. We may get word at that time.
JC Transfers and late high school Signing Day is February 4th. We will definitely have this thing pieced together by February 5th.

I think the Psyche replacement and the Left Tackle replacement are the key pieces that warrant immediate, grad transfer/portal types. TE and RB have one proven guy each with young depth behind them, but it says something to the state of readiness of those back-ups if we have portal offers at those positions. Nickel/Safety the same thing. Look at what offers are out there and that will tell you what the coaches are thinking of the young guys coming up.

Since we're in off-season opining mode, let's discuss the merits of smallish RBs vs. the "big back". A big back is typically seen as slower, but more powerful, with a greater ability to run through arm tackles in short yardage situations. In my opinion, that is a nice luxury to have. "Big backs" that jumped out to me were Victor Dawson (#5, 5'11" 220) from Illinois State and Davis from Montana State (#32, 5'10" 210). A program needs to be in the portal to find those guys, and you have to be willing to pay. Dawson was from Cincinnati while Davis came from Wisconsin. They come with a price tag. And, in retrospect, was either one of them any more valuable than the small backs from UC Davis? Different offensive roles, certainly. Fisher gets most of his carries on 1st down and run down situations. 14 carries per game is his average, 2 catches per game. 16 touches. Dawson was a volume rusher who got stronger as the game progressed and dictated. Good zone runner. Davis was more of a change-up guy to compliment the QB run threat. While a 3rd and 4th down situational back would be a luxury, for what the Aggies offense asks of its tailback, I would argue (not sure who I'm arguing with) that the team is better served spending money elsewhere. Like Defensive End and Left Tackle. This is no knock on Fish; in fact, he is the perfect RB for Plough's offense in my opinion. Great in space in the screen/passing game, outstanding on the outside runs and gap schemes, willing pass blocker (sometimes gets run over, but he ain't scared). I love his game. Dynamic, home run hitter who can take it to the house on any carry. I hold my breath when he has the ball. When I watched Dawson and Davis, that was not the case. What I'm getting at is that a big back is not necessarily the best fit for the Aggie offense. As we learned, there aren't enough carries to go around and keep guys happy. An "RB by committee" or an elite RB with capable back-ups is just fine.

While a portal LT would sure be nice, I think we have a lot of OL depth & talent. The staff seems high on Hasson and Cleeland (they found ways to get them on the field... I think one was even on kick return). Jace Rodriguez played tackle before transferring to Davis. All three are guys with OT builds and athleticism.

In no way am I arguing against getting a portal LT! But if we don't, this is probably why.

My thought also. The team hasn’t offered a transfer tackle. Rodriguez not only played tackle he started at the position for a year. There are a number of sophomore o linemen on the depth chart.

I am with you 100% on having an in-house guy over a portal transfer. Especially on the Offensive Line and at that position. The staff must feel confident with our homegrown Tackles if they aren't offering portal/grad transfers. Good sign!

I’m going to miss watching Caden Pinnick and I appreciate that $ is an important motivator. But it’s not the only currency at play. How much is a UC Davis education worth over a lifetime and career? Much less living in Northern California, and making deep connections with the people who will be fellow alumni. I am guessing that Pinnick didn’t see himself as having a good shot at a pro career as a QB, so his chance to earn a pot of money to start out life is now, not in 4-5 years. So how much of a pot is a UC degree worth with the connections and educational reputation it represents, in comparison with a WSU degree and experience? What would it have taken you to make that choice if it was yours?

Let's see... $500-750k and a house, or even a nice condo, in the Pullman area with incentives based on my performance. And maybe a truck with 4WD. With a gunrack.

I don't know how you quantitate the value of the UC Davis degree. All your points are very valid.

I think I can be bought cheaper than most since money for me is always a constant issue. I think I can be persuaded with as little as $20k per year additional money plus all tuition paid to a mediocre university.

I think we tend to devalue degrees from other schools too much. This comes from our historical competitors not offering much academically. Washington State isn’t Sac State. Also if Pinnick succeeds there as a player, there will be a large alumni population who he can have connections with.

The degree argument was great in the late 90s and early 2000s but the job market is shit. You can be a Harvard grad and have a really tough time. Take the money..

We just need a big back for red zone and short yardage. It was a weakness of ours once Vargas got injured. I’m thinking 8 carries a game for a power back.

On second thought, I probably wouldn't be bought that cheaply. That's because this would assume I'm good as Caden, my tuition is already paid for at UCD, and I'm already settled and comfortable at UCD for two years. Perhaps $100k is my minimum.

Let's go! Don't underestimate your value

They offered Lan Larison $100k to stay, so I guess I'd stay too if that was offered.

Does anybody know the details of the Pinnick deal?

I think we tend to devalue degrees from other schools too much. — Riveraggie

It’s funny, for the last few years I have been the people manager for about 400 employees, and maybe about 50 college kids per semester. I found that the prestige of university made no difference in performance. The best predictors of workplace success were those who had lived away from home in a dorm for at least a year and those who had experience in a crappy campus food service job.

Most don't get a BS degree.
The difference between UC and CSU is not mostly in the science classes, it's that credit can be earned for less academic courses. If you peruse a junior college catalogue you'll see that there are a bunch of classes that will earn CSU credit but not UC credit If someone transfers from a CSU to a UC they are likely to lose credits.
I've taken slightly more classes at CSU, some at the graduate level in computer science, so I'm not denigrating your coworkers. I do believe there is not as much of a difference between systems as there was when i was a student.

as an employer, for my entry level positions it’s like a Venn diagram of attitude, capability, and skills. In theory, UC is selecting those right in the middle. But it may not matter for Gen Z - recent HR cases, one of my interns habitually pooping in the company fitness center shower and another who identifies as a cat and won’t stop meowing at coworkers. The ability difference between CSU/UC is like the last of my worries.

From a construction standpoint - we get them all - and it's a mixed bag of who's solid and who just shows up. We've got Sac State, San Jose State, Cal Poly, San Francisco State, UC Davis, Chico State, University of Colorado, San Diego State, Cal and one dude who never even went to college but is one of our best managers because all he has done is work and manage construction since he was 18. One of our Davis guys was a disaster, so it really matters on the quality of the individual and what they're doing. Every work culture is different.

A lot of arrogance regarding UC Davis. I own three companies and have mixed results from UC grads. Our best results from hiring civil engineers, construction management and business admin/finance majors have come from Fresno State, Chico State, Boise State, all Montana schools, Santa Clara, Purdue and Nebraska. Our operations are 100 percent CA based. All recent UC grads lacked relevant internships, professional social skills and too focused on pronouns rather than work. One of our companies does recruiting for permanent employment placement in the heavy civil arena. Make fun of state schools as you want, but in the West, 90 percent of our placements come from state schools. You don’t have to go UC Davis to be an educated, employed professional who is a good person. There is a lot of world outside the confines of Davis, CA.

The remaining 10 percent didn’t attend college. Work ethic, talent, and the ability to show up doesn’t discriminate against where all these people went work. All these athletes taking money transferring and betting on themselves.

The CSUs tend to be better connected to local employers and often use them for internships. The CSUs are a really important engine of the California economy providing an educated workforce in teaching, engineering and other white collar jobs. The UCs are R-1 research intensive universities that offer PhDs and are less focused on immediate employability of graduates and more on teaching the essentials for getting advanced degrees and generating new knowledge and innovation. I know that at UC Davis about half of undergraduates participate in research for example.These are both important missions but they are not the same thing. Back to WSU and Caden Pinnick: WSU is also an R-1 Carnegie designated research intensive university but within that category it’s not up there with UC
Davis. According to Gemini AI “In the U.S. News 2026 rankings, UC Davis ranks significantly higher as #32 nationally and #9 among public universities, known for strong research and social mobility, while Washington State University (WSU) is further down, at #192 nationally and #104 for public schools, reflecting different positions within national university tiers, according to U.S. News & World Report.” So should Caden have any interest in pursuing an elite graduate degree he’d have been much better off staying at UC Davis, but that may not be important to him. It’s also true that where you go to school shapes your vision of what is possible and interesting.

Thirty years ago a colleague told me they hired from Chico State when they needed people skills, and Davis when they needed engineers. The Chico grads often landed interesting customer-facing jobs. A super bright, personable ME friend (Aggie) torched an introductory test entering the Navy's nuclear school, while a Cal grad struggled. (The questions were posed on a blackboard in front of a small group.)

No guarantee Pinnick will stay at WSU in this new era especially if he lights up some big boys.

I was told that we can’t officially announce transfers until signing day. Of course, there’s no stopping the players from spilling the beans.